K.A.C. 2012 - T - 1 ...

     Once again we come to our final installment of the K.A.C. - but before we wave goodbye, let's see what surprises are left in the bottom of the sack ...

           Oh, Krampus, you silly goose! Here I give you the year off and STILL you insist on stopping by! Yes, we still love you ... yes, you have our hearts (ummm, maybe not the best of phrases here ...) - you know what, Big K? You seem a little busy there, so we'll let you get back to ... whatever it is you're doing ... there ... (EEK!) Instead, may I present Anthony Bourdain's "A Krampus Carol"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p1JYvV178E 

     Moving on ... last Christmas Eve, the folks in Beijing, China, reported the arrival of a real-life superhero.  She goes by the moniker 'Chinese Redbud Woman' and her super powers include giving food and other materials to the homeless and poor. Who is she? Where does she come from? Who knows ... does it matter? It's her message that's important, that of helping those less fortunate at this time of the year. Read all about her below:

http://www.odditycentral.com/news/mysterious-female-superhero-helps-beijings-poor.html 

          

     Our final gift to you for the 2012 season (as it is every year at the K.A.C.) is our annual Christmas scary tale (see my blog entries for December 24th, 2010 and December 23rd, 2011). It's traditional to have a Christmas ghost story every year, but just this once, we're going to break with tradition due to the extreme rarity of our find. From November 1st, 1945, as heard on the radio show SUSPENSE, we present H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror"! It's in three parts, with Ronald Coleman as Henry Armitage. I'm particularly taken with the accompanying photos, maps, etc., that Lemming013 put together to accompany this tale. So turn down the lights and listen to this touching tale of Lavinia Whateley's precocious son Wilbur ... and someone (or something) else. (Sadly, the comic at right is just a mock-up *sigh*) - My thanks to my co-worker Mary for finding this radio rarity!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e2fJr6M3Mc&list=UU6VZY1B2pIYL_kQm7Duvw7A&index=5


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     And with that, it's time for me to shuffle off for another year. Thank you all for joining me on our crazy Christmas trip through the frivolous and the fabulous  -  hope you'll (or is that Yule?) join me again next year! Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and may you all have a Happy and Healthy New Year!
    

     

K.A.C. 2012 - T - 2 ...

           Well, this is ONE way of guaranteeing you're going to get Santa's attention! Coming to the rescue at the very end of the K.A.C. is a whole Santa sackful of Christmas Desktop Goodies from Diana's "She Walks Softly" blog ... there's just so much here to enjoy, I don't know where to start. Dive in!

http://shewalkssoftly.com/2011/12/20/christmas-desktop-goodies/






 






      I think the only way I can follow up all that weirdness is with a Chemical Christmas! First, scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute got the holiday bug (hmm, maybe not the best description there ...) and created some holiday Petri dish surprises out of fungi ... including two different Christmas trees and a snowman (hopefully NOT nicknamed 'Captain Tripps') - click on the link to see them all!

http://www.geekologie.com/2012/12/tis-the-season-fungal-christmas-trees-an.php 

     Sticking with the scientific theme for a moment, next we have the Chemistree (see what they did there? Those wacky scientists!) -  extra points for best guesses as to what chemicals are represented here!

http://www.geekologie.com/2012/12/chemistree-a-chemistry-lab-equipment-chr.php

     Leaving the science behind, we next turn our attention to an article called 'The Top 20 Christmas Magazine Covers of All Time' ... how this December, 1974 issue of The National Lampoon missed the cut is beyond me - I still remember it nearly 40 years later! While I don't agree with all their choices, there still are some good ones here - take a look!

http://www.mediaite.com/online/the-war-on-christmas-magazine-covers/

     





     Come back tomorrow for our final entry of 2012! See you then!

     

    

K.A.C. 2012 - T - 3 ...

     Here's an interesting story that was just reported by the BBC. Take a look at the photo on the left. Before you think this is some odd missing portrait on the wall of the Overlook Hotel at the end of THE SHINING, calm down ... it is actually a photo of the Wall family. What is so important about them? Individually and/or collectively, nothing much. Historically, however, ah ... that's a different story! 

     As the BBC reports, "Curators at the Museum of London have discovered what they believe to be the first ever recordings of a family Christmas. They were made 110 years ago by the Wall family who lived in New Southgate in North London. There are 24 clear recordings on wax cylinders which were made using a phonograph machine between 1902 and 1917."

     Read the whole report (and hear some of these amazingly preserved recordings) here!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20772246 

     
     Staying with our theme of Christmases Gone By, here is a delightful illustration from an 1875 edition of The Saturday Evening Post. The picture at right accompanied a short story called "A Christmas After-Dinner Dream" and you can read the entire tale (as well as take a look at a century of classic Christmas art from the magazine) at the link below:

http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/12/22/art-entertainment/century-christmas-art.html 

    

Next, if the hustle and bustle of the season is getting too much for you and you want to escape the world for awhile, I have the PERFECT Christmas gift for you! It's called The Isolator and was invented by "the father of science fiction", Hugo Gernsback (pictured at left). Back in 1926, he published the long-running "scienti-fiction" magazine Amazing Stories ... but Hugo was much more than just a publisher. He was an inventor (The Isolator notwithstanding) with one of the world's first television receivers to his credit, as well as a writer and editor. Read all about him (and maybe even ordering instructions for your OWN Isolator!) here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Gernsback

     
     What better way to end today's entry than The Twelve Terrors of Christmas by John Updike, with illustrations by Edward Gorey? Click on the link below and enjoy!

http://shewalkssoftly.com/2011/12/21/the-twelve-terrors-of-christmas/ 





     Only two more to go!



    

    
     

     

K.A.C. 2012 - T - 4 ...

     So how did you do on the Kringle's Khristmas Kuties All-Male Edition? The answers are:

# 1 - Freddie Mercury (lead singer for Queen)

# 2 - Jimi Hendrix (!)

# 3 - Elvis Presley

# 4 - Johnny Depp

# 5 - Isaiah Mustafa (of the Old Spice ads)

# 6 - David Hasselhoff

     I'm just a tad disturbed that I used to have those exact same slippers he's wearing in this photo ...  :(

           One of the holiday mainstays for the K.A.C. has always been Christmas in the Comics, with some of the more jaw-dropping examples of four-color Merry Mirthfulness. Rather than put up a number of different covers this year, I'm going to just go with this FANTASTIC Marvel Comics Group Christmas card ... this TOTALLY knocks me out! I'm thinking of getting a full-color printout of it and use it as my label for all of my Christmas packages next year ... what do you think? Originally I thought this might have come about during Marvel's Golden Age (the mid-1960s), when it had the Merry Marvel Marching Society and the fan club F.O.O.M. (Friends of Old Marvel ... and I'll spare you asking, yes, I WAS a member! :) ) going strong, but looking at the characters here, this would have been from the 1970s (Conan in the bottom left is a big tipoff). Upon further research, it turns out this was the 1970 Office Christmas card that Marvel sent out to business associates and fans. Great stuff!

     

           Our final Christmas tree story of the year comes out of Seattle - it's a clever variation of the old "tree is too big for the house" gag. This time homeowner Patrick Kruger went the extra mile, by adding fake roofing tiles and lighting it all to look like the tree was bursting through the roof.

     Speaking of final stories, let's leave you today with one final outrageous Christmas card. Sent out to family and friends by the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, it has everything you'd like to see in a holiday card. Happy family? Check. Cute kid? Check. A leopard delivering the death stroke to an unsuspecting animal? Check ... hey, wait ...

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     Three more entries to go ... come back tomorrow!

K.A.C. 2012 - T - 5 ...

# 1

     In response to a number of the ladies for their own quiz, here we go with a SECOND edition of Kringle's Khristmas Kuties ... the All-Male Edition! Mind you, this one was a LOT harder to put together than the first one ... not as many guys go for the Xmas photos, I guess. The rules are the same as before - identify the celeb by their numbers. No cheating! Answers will be here tomorrow - good luck!

# 3

# 2

# 4

# 5

# 6

    

K.A.C. 2012 - T - 6 ...

    

Six days out and The UK come through with a delightful spoof trailer on the latest James Bond epic ... why watch SKYFALL when you can see "Claus, Santa Claus" in SNOWFALL?! Take a look!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2248402/The-names-Claus-Santa-Claus-Comedy-Snowfall-trailer-replaces-Daniel-Craigs-James-Bond-cheeky-Father-Christmas.html 

           BREAKING NEWS !!! Stop whatever you are doing and set up your DVR for the 2012 K.A.C. MUST-SEE film of the year !!! Running on the SyFy Channel, it's called 'The 12 Disasters of Christmas' and combines the famous song with "Mayan prophesies" that are bringing about the end of the world ... and the teenage girl (Magda Apanowicz, pictured at right) who is "the chosen one" to save us all from the End Times ... the ABSOLUTE LUNACY of the plot, acting, special effects, etc. are almost beyond belief, but you MUST see this! It is on TONIGHT on the SyFy Channel and I'm sure they'll be repeating it over and over. I think this is the new annual Christmas film at our house! Check out the review below or just a TASTE of the holiday madness involved in this Christmas treat!

http://tv.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/arts/television/the-12-disasters-of-christmas-on-syfy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0

     As one reviewer said, "If you need a new Christmas drinking game, take a shot every time someone mentions "DOOM!" in this movie!"  

     Our final five begins tomorrow! 

K.A.C. 2012 - T - 7 ...

     We're winding down the K.A.C. for another year, do before I run out of space completely, let me turn the blog over to YOU for Readers Submission Day!    

     First up, Sean sent in this link ... and here I thought I'd have NOTHING to wear this Christmas! :) Check out this FANTASTIC Whovian shirt, courtesy of Shirtwoot! Weeping Angels, an Adipose ... even K-9! Here's where to get yours! 

http://shirt.woot.com/offers/celebrate-celebrate 

     Not to be outdone, Patty sent me the link to a toy that outdoes the R2D2 version of Operation. Called  the Doctor Dreadful Alien Autopsy, it ... wow, I don't know where to begin with this! Let's see ... there's an alien autopsy with "motorized guts (that) come to life" ... where you "Eat everything you make!" 

     So this takes Mattel's old Incredible Edibles toy bug maker and updates it to today's sensibilites where kids can now cannibalize an alien. You know, IF we ever are visited by an extraterrestrial race, they are NOT going to take kindly to this! Here's the Amazon link, should you know a certain someone who would love this ...

http://www.amazon.com/Exclusive-Doctor-Dreadful-Aliens-refill/dp/B009YPWPQ4/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1355720281&sr=1-2&keywords=alien+autopsy

     Let's wrap things up today with OUR type of Christmas Carol here at the K.A.C. - it's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Yog-Sothoth"!  Brought to you by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, the link also features a touching rendition of Freddy the Red-Brained Mi-Ho"! Give them a listen while you prepare for the end of the world this Friday!

http://io9.com/5969031/i-saw-mommy-kissing-yog+sothoth-and-other-cthulhu+ian-christmas-songs

     You can't make this stuff up! :) Back tomorrow with more!